


Dead Memories

by LotharWinchester



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Forced Marriage, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mild Sexual Content, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Past Torture, Psychological Torture, Section 31, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2017-12-31 05:39:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LotharWinchester/pseuds/LotharWinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ophelia Emerson comes face to face with John Harrison after she is propelled forward in time. Pre STID and on. Contains AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_**.. Rebooting.** _

A harsh wind whipped across the expanse of her bare skin.

_Am I... falling?_

_**System rerouting… System rerouting.** _

Against the odds, the young woman snorted before she extended her arms.

 _That won't help Ophelia._ Her long arms began to flail wildly. _Might as well move your legs._

_**90% power. Calculating trajectory in five, four three…** _

The sound of her blood pounding momentarily blocked out the whistling of the sharp wind. Her recently healed trigger finger bent at an awkward angle as she tried to reign her hands back in.

_Ow. Fucker._

_**Improbable safe landing trajectory. Impact in twenty seconds.** _

_Guess this i-._

\---  
Commander John Harrison kept close to the mouth of each alley he passed. He had never been to this section of London before and it was his most recent experiment had led him here. His recently acquired... _boss_ had seen his calculations and demanded he use them. Even if they weren't ready.

He ignored a half human vendor that tried to goad him into looking at his "21st century" tourist trinkets. The only indication he had heard the man was the slight arch of his eyebrow. His ever changing eyes kept to the sky.

It happened in what most would perceive as a UFO but he knew better. He turned sharply on his heel and ran towards the now loud crash that was his experiment. Several of the local loan sharks glanced in his direction as he passed and pressed his left hand to his face to block out the stench. He pulled out a small needle with an empty chamber and slipped a small cylinder filled with red liquid inside it.

He stopped at the edge of the large crater that had been created in the alley street. His mouth twitched with distain once he knelt down beside the pliant body in the center. He had hoped his specimen would be a man. Just as he finished injecting the woman he had shifted into the crook of his left arm, the sound of rapid footsteps came from the mouth of the alley behind him.

John dropped the young woman and unleashed his full strength onto two of the loan sharks that had hoped to cash in on the mystery object. He snapped one of their heads clean off its body and shoved the headless corpse back into the arms of the other. The one eyed alien shrieked as John forced him into the pit beside the unconscious girl. The body rolled to the edge and John quickly set his phaser to kill to finish the other.

She started to squirm in his arms when he stomped out of the crater and further down the alley. He was less than a half mile away from his flat and he knew he could make it if he stuck to the side streets. So long as the long haired woman in his arms remained semi unconscious.  
\---  
It had been a while since the last time she felt this level of excruciating pain. She groaned loudly and waited for her blood to stop its fevered pounding. She groaned softly as she did a quick self- check. She was fully intact, a fact that surprised her, due to the fact that she had most likely plummeted a vast distance from wherever or whoever had taken her. Never had she been so thankful for the enhancements to her body.

"Lie still." She shivered at the sound of a rolling male voice above her and winced as the man fixed the placement of her finger. "You should be dead."

The woman huffed, "I get that a lot." She slowly opened her eyes and blinked at the sight of the man before her. His dark hair was slicked back and his green eyes flickered from her to a sheet he held in his defined hand. She was surprised that he had not chained her down but blushed and wrapped the grey robe around her frame. _Had he undressed her?_

"You fell from the sky," His voice shifted into a deeper baritone as he faced her, "My name is John Harrison."

"Ophelia May Emerson." She shakily shook her hand and frowned at his disapproving stare. "What do you want from me, I just woke up." A twinge of a smirk flitted across his face. "Where am I?

John's eyes remained on the thin red analog clock that spanned from her wrist to her elbow on her inner arm. Her eyes were similar to his own. Her upper teeth worried against her plump lower lip as he pointedly ignored her question. _Pompous Ass._

He kept his voice low. "What year were you born?"

 _Strange question._ "1990..." Her voice seemed far away as she brought her gaze to the clock on her arm. It continued to count down. She refused to follow as he roughly tugged arm. She could feel his frustration coming off in waves.

John almost sighed to release it. "You've traveled a long way Ophelia." She shivered as her name rolled off his tongue. "Come with me." He helped her off the cool steel table and onto the tile floor. Once she could stand on her own, he opened the door and led her through to an elevator. He dragged her in and pressed the button for the top floor. She had no intention of asking John why she was almost naked in the basement of his hotel or flat building. Which one, she wasn't sure of yet. It took her the entire trip to realize it was almost 2 a.m.  
\---  
It was still dark out. John's curtains pulled back automatically as he approached a small center island in his steel kitchen. She toed out of her shoes and left them neatly beside the dark door before she crept along his path. It took Ophelia through a dismal living room with a grey leather couch and a large plasma screen that she could tell hadn't been used by the amount of dust caked on the screen. She looked down at her white socks and noticed his floors where made of wood. On a whim, she guessed Oak or Mahogany.

She paused for a moment as John left her a mug of tea on the island and asked her previous question again. "Where am I?"

You're in London," She watched as he took a brief sip from his plain mug, almost as if he was pondering what and how much to tell her. "How old are you?"

"Twenty three." She smiled sadly as the memory of her birthday party surfaced and sat down on one of the stools. "Why?"

John paused to allow her to drink a bit more tea, "You've been brought through time." He stood up straight as Ophelia coughed as gripped the dark marble counter top. "Almost three hundred years."

"Why did you help me?" She righted herself and looked him in the eyes.

"Your arm." He motioned to the clock with his hand, "It's unusual and piqued my interest."

Ophelia tried to collect her jaw up off the floor. . She couldn't tell if he was lying or telling the truth. She could tell he was a man of science by the blueprints spread out across the left half of the island. They mocked her as she tried to hide her arm. "I don't know what it means."

John nodded once and pointed to her right. "Rest. The bedroom is down the hall to the left."  



	2. Getting to Know You

Whatever John Harrison did for a living, it barely reflected in his home. His guest room had the same layer of dust as his plasma. One laptop sized window briefly showed a panoramic view of London before the curtains automatically shut.

Ophelia sighed heavily and glanced around the room. A twin bed and a small dresser were placed against the right wall. The only source of light came from the outside hall. She continued onward.

John's room was at the end of the hall. His black door was closed and Ophelia almost shied away from it. But she needed to know more about this man. The silver door handle was cool to her grip as she slowly pushed it down. His window gave a larger view of London due to its enormity. It covered the entire back wall and stood about Harrison's height. The light turned on at a dim setting as she stepped onto the grey carpet.

The black shades remained open as she ventured further in. A rather large bathroom and a walk in closet dominated the left portion of the room while his king size bed and a black metal dresser took most of the remaining space. A compact door led to an offshoot room. For what, Ophelia did not know.

_Jesus Christ his room is about the same size as this whole fucking.._

"It slipped my mind to inform you that there are house rules." Ophelia jumped up a few inches off the ground as she turned to face John. "Do not enter my room without permission."

She nodded and stepped out of his room. Unfortunately, this led her straight into John's personal space. "I'm sorry." she kept her voice low and did not meet his cold blue eyes. "I was looking for..." She paused and motioned to the guest room. "Something to clean the room up with."

It was a lame attempt at a lie and John saw right through it.

"Don't waste time lying to me." she flinched at his displeased tone. "You were curious and wanted to know more about me."

She focused her gaze on his hand. His hand interlocked her fingers with his and tugged. "The guest room has as much dust as your television."

John let go of Ophelia's hand and back tracked to the guest room. He stuck his hand into the room and wiped it against the wall. She could see the displeasure flit across his face.

"You have a fair point." He stated as he reestablished their previous connection. "Come."

* * *

Ophelia showered quickly to appease his growing discontent. When she emerged, he had set one of his black shirts and a towel on the sink. They were placed on the very edge so he hadn't entered for very long.

She found it strange but her gratefulness overrode it. John Harrison had more decency than any other man she'd met.

Her mind had processed some of what had happened in the last few hours. She had left her post with the U.S. government in her time and then somehow traveled through time after she had returned home.

Ophelia left the fluffy towel on the rack beside the door and slipped into the shirt. She caught her underwear before it could drop to the ground and it brought an odd smile to her face as she rushed putting them on. There was something funny about the mental image of John washing her frilly red underwear. She chuckled.

"Ophelia." He knocked once. "The blinds are closed. The bedside light will turn off when you go to bed."

She rushed to the door and pulled it open. John stiffened and averted his eyes. "I don't understand."

"I will sleep on the couch tonight." She paused long enough to realize he was trying to maintain his composure and neutrality at the sight of her. She flushed and glanced down at her body. It took only a second to understand why John reacted the way he did. She hadn't caught on to the fact that John's room was several degrees colder than his bathroom. Her nipples pushed at the material of his shirt and showed as she clutched it. The warm material covered her thighs and stopped below her knees.

"Please." Ophelia found it hard to find her voice and her mind screamed in protest. What had happened to her? She could only recall losing her voice and confidence as a child.

Ophelia gently grasped John's left hand with one of her own and could feel his eyes on her back as she pulled him across the threshold of the room to his bed. They did not say anything as she let go of his hand to untuck the sheets.

John's calming breath filled the room after their pregnant silence. Ophelia had taken note of which side seemed to be broken in and chose the other half. She gently patted his spot of the bed. Her hair shielded her face from him as he glided in beside her.

Without touching him she could feel the tension of his body. Ophelia exhaled softly as she brushed her hair out of her eyes. "May I?" John turned and nodded. She slowly rested her head on his shoulder while she allowed her eyes to close. "Thank you."

* * *

It was a whisper but Commander John Harrison heard it. He watched the raven haired woman he had accepted as his _charge. Ward. Companion. Responsibility..._ None of the words that crossed his mind fit as the human curled up against him in her sleep. He approximated her height at five four without her shoes on.

His self-control had slid away at the sight of her in his black Starfleet shirt. A fact that he was not proud of.

John lifted her right arm up to get a better look at the ever counting clock. It took him a few seconds to deduce that these numbers added up to seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years.

_Her lifespan._

John scrutinized the layer of skin over the clock. His thumb dragged across it and was surprised by the texture. It felt as if he was dragging his thumb across warm glass.

He kept his eyes on her face as his fingers flicked the skin. Ophelia slept through his tests and John frowned at the resounding sound her skin gave.

It looked, felt, and sounded like glass and the numbers had slowed in her sleep. He recalled what happened as Ophelia panicked, the countdown sped up and decreased the amount of time she had at nearly double the rate.

_04.55.12.26.11.50_

And counting.

She would live, at this rate, to be at least seventy three years old. John continued to watch the seconds tick down and caught himself pondering what he would do with the his remaining time. Would his plans change?

The clock did not tick as it counted down but gave off a soft glow in the darkness of his bedroom.

_00.40.12.26.11.50_

John wanted to roll over to prevent himself from seeing it but couldn't due to the fact Ophelia had nearly cemented herself to his right side as she slept. Her right arm had draped itself across his firm torso.

To preoccupy himself, John lightly trailed his hand across Ophelia's back and down her spine. He thought he had seen something fused to her skeletal system as she walked away from him. He was right. Ophelia's bones were thinner but twice as prominent under his touch. Something had altered her bone structure and he wanted to know how and why. 

A soft sigh emanated from his right shoulder. His hand ministrations were not meant to comfort her but Ophelia's breath heated his neck as she continued to sleep. Contently.

John suppressed a full hearted chuckle. If only she knew she was in the furthest place from being safe.

* * *

He slept for an hour before he slipped out of bed and closed the door behind him quietly. John grabbed Ophelia's bag off the floor as well as her shoes that were still beside the front door. He slung the bag over his shoulder once he returned to his bedroom door and moved rapidly across the carpet in his bare feet. Once he was behind the closed door, he placed both items on a steel table and hit the lights.

John had converted his storage space that this Starfleet given apartment had into a highly functioning lab. He returned to the table and flipped Ophelia's shoes over and picked soil out of the treads with metal tweezers.

While he waited for the results, John emptied the bag on the table and began to sort the contents into piles. A folded pair of jump boots, a cellphone, an MP3 player, and a camera were the primary items that piqued his interest. The rest were related to feminine functions and other things he did not care about. He had untraceable access to the Archives and when the results popped up on the screen he rushed through a sample off of her combat boots for comparison.

_June 2013. Morrisville, Vermont. June 2013 Concord, Vermont._

John held his breath and reformatted the system to erase his presence in the Archives as a precaution. He almost wanted to wake Ophelia up. To ask her what life was like eleven years after the Eugenics Wars.


	3. My Life’s Parameters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If further examples of the clock on Ophelia's arm are needed please let me know.

_System 5471996 alert_

Ophelia stiffened as she laid back on John’s bed. _That code._ The Augment Code…

Her mismatched eyes scoured the room for any type of weapon and frowned when it only resulted in the small bedside lamp. _Why now?_  Her teeth dug into her bottom lip at the thought of John’s grip the previous day along with his crafted features. The scent he left on his sheets… _Shit._

John was an Augment. 

Ophelia stood and rushed out of the bedroom towards the front door. She had a spare set of clothing in her backpack she could change into once she’d escaped from John’s apartment.

 _John isn’t his real name, Phi._ She sighed heavily, _He’s a killer. They all are. Remember._

She froze as she bore holes into the spot where her belongings once were.  John had taken them. _Fuck. Fuck. **Fuck**._ Her thin fingers raked through her now unkempt hair. She had no back up and no plan. Hell, she had only been out of the United States on recognizance and rescue missions after it came to common knowledge that the Augments were gone. They had escaped into space  during some point in 1996.

She was six years old then and the Meta Program hadn’t been started yet.

Ophelia’s shoulders sagged as she gently rested her forehead on the wall. Her knuckles cracked as she interlocked her fingers.  The metal grafted to her bones would only help in defense, not offense. 

“I did not realize you were awake.”  And his _voice_.  It was clearly the voice of an Augment.  There was a strong sense of superiority and command of respect in his tone. _How had I not noticed it sooner? Why hadn’t my bio scanner picked it up?_ Plenty of questions flowed through her mind as John stepped forward. “Ophelia…”

“Stay away from me _Augment._ ” It was a low hiss. 

His pleasent mask slipped from his face as he grasped Ophelia by her arm. She knew it would bruise. “How do you know what _I_ am?”

She smirked as she looked up at John, “While you had your little joyride in space, the humans developed ways to pick you out.” His cold blue -green eyes continued to analyze her. “I am one of them, _Khan_.” 

* * *

Khan growled lowly when Ophelia regarded him with disrespect. “You will tell me _everything_ about these… _developments_.”

Both of his strong hands had wrapped around her upper arms and pulled her closer. Khan kept Ophelia’s multi colored gaze until she looked down at his bare feet. “What’s next?”

Khan’s teeth ground against each other behind his lips at Ophelia’s huff of insubordination. “I will take you to the lab where we can talk.” Khan straightened and let go of one arm and dragged Ophelia forward with his remaining grip. “Starfleet gave me this apartment and I suspect it is bugged.”

Ophelia nodded and her raven hair flowed into her face as Khan shoved her in front of him. He did not trust her.  His grip shifted and it pulled her left arm behind her at an awkward angle. “ _Move._ ”

 Ophelia stood in silence as Khan closed the door behind them. His eyes scanned her face and continued downwards to her arm. A soft clicking was the only alert to how scared she actually was. Khan frowned as he shoved her into a cool metal chair.

He flowed around the room with uncomforting familiarity. His nimble fingers quickly assembled a small IV drip and brought it to the table beside her. “I will only use this if I have to.”

Ophelia willingly turned her left arm over but glanced away as Khan took several blood samples in small vials. She swallowed thickly as she stared at the clear bag.  _Sodium Thiopental_

“I will ask you as many questions as I deem fit.” Ophelia nodded once and released her pent up breath. “If I believe you are not being _truthful_ ,” He lifted the bag off the table, “This entire bag will be in your body through this.” He pressed against the spot on her left arm that was taped.  She nodded again. “Let’s begin.”

\---

_Be Honest, Phi. You can’t die here. Not yet._

“I was orphaned.” Ophelia shivered as Khan motioned for her to stand. “My parents died because they refused to submit.” She stood as she spoke and lifted her arms. Khan removed his shirt from her body by pulling the soft material over her head. He reached behind him and flipped on a heart monitor before he placed several electrodes across her chest and down. He stopped at her hips.

“I assume they were killed by my family.” His voice remained cold but the underlying defensive and jagged edge to it made her realize how family ranked in his list of priorities.

Ophelia nodded and turned away as he slipped a blood pressure cuff onto her right bicep. Khan remained silent until he wrote the numbers on a small chart beside the clear IV bag. “I felt your hipbones earlier.” He paused as he put the cuff back. “I assume your government altered you.”

“I was taken from an orphanage in New Jersey.” Her upper teeth sunk into her bottom lip. “I was nine.” Her hands shook as she moved beside Khan and sat on a small examination table. She could only imagine what other living beings he’d examined here. “The Meta Program was similar in the sense that we were meant to control.” She opened her mouth and Khan briefly shined a small light to see the inside. There was a small box on the roof of her mouth. “We were designed to contain and, if necessary, kill Augments.”

“When did the Meta Program start?”  His gaze followed the flashlight to her ears. She could see his chart enough to watch him write _No inner or outer ear damage_.

“January 1st, 2000.” Khan merely arched an eyebrow at her precision and continued his exam. “There were one hundred orphans selected. Ninety of them were orphaned because of _your family_.” She lost the spite in her tone at his glare.  “Every one of them died.” He stopped as her breath hitched. “I was the only one to make it through the cementation process.”

“Proceed.”

He glanced down at the clock and looked back up at her face. “A few more questions, Ophelia.”

She watched as Khan ran his fingers through his hair. It wasn’t slicked back as she recalled it was the day before. It fell into his eyes as he worked. “What was the cementation process?”  

“We were forced into a medically induced coma,” She found it hard to breathe, “The scientists then forced a metal mold to graph to our bones.”  Ophelia shuddered as she recalled the cool liquid around her body. And the pain. “Christ on a bike, I was in agony.”

“Look at my finger.” Ophelia sighed as she followed his index finger and tried to ignore the glare of the light in her eyes.  _No eye damage. MRI and CT scan need to be completed in Section 31._

“You were still a growing child then.”  His focus returned to the timer on her arm.

_Stupid fucking thing._ “I went through the cementation process three more times.” Khan extended his hand to help her up.  She refused and stood on her own. He knelt down and bent her knees while scrutinizing the motion and her skin. “Afterwards is the Data process.”  He switched legs, “That box on the roof of my mouth gives them control over my body. They can access it at any given time.” 

“Flex your toes.” She could see the tension in his shoulders as she did what she was asked.

“I also need the pills in my bag.” He glanced up at her, “Not the birth control, the other ones.” She chuckled “Although, both would be nice.”

Khan sighed and stood up straight. He wrote his last findings down on the chart and put it beside what Ophelia deemed a computer. “The pills keep me from dying as the metal corrodes in my body.”

Khan nodded and held her bag out to her. She exhaled as he handed his black shirt back to her. “You need to blend in with current times, Ophelia.”  He removed the electrodes and the IV as she fished around the bag and pulled out a sports bra. Khan turned his head to the side as she changed. He’d give in to one comforting social norm. After all, he was taking her back to Section 31 for tests. None of which would be kind.

“So now you know my life’s parameter.” She smiled sadly as she slipped into the jump boots. “Are you taking me somewhere, Khan?”

He motioned towards the door and she waited for him. Khan grabbed the chart and his notes off the lab bench and flicked off the light.  “Go wait by the door.” He was semi surprised by her acceptance of his commands.

As he turned everything off through voice commands, his attention was drawn back to the numbers on her arm. His tests had only taken a half an hour.  He glanced down at his notes.

_00.55.15.25.11.47_

An hour of fear, anxiety and panic had taken three years off of her lifespan. 


	4. Section 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Sassiebone for the reviews. I keep forgetting this is the first fanfiction i've started in years and It's great to get comments on un beta'd versions. Thank you again.

She wanted to die.

There was no exaggeration to it and she despised Khan for bringing her here. It was just like sub base in New York, no windows with colorless walls, and the tank she had started out in was eerily similar to the one used in the cementation process. 

She had answered every question Marcus had asked her truthfully and as clearly as she could articulate. He had turned to Khan and demanded to sedate Ophelia. She had used all of her strength to try and break free of the tank. Khan frowned as he slipped a cocktail of sedatives into her system through a hypospray.

It didn’t last long, however, a rather large downside of having a high drug tolerance. Her brown and blue eyes flew open at the whirring of a drill beside her left ear.  She stared blankly at the ceiling for hours submerged in some liquid that she couldn’t identify. It was crystal clear like lake water but felt different on her skin. Almost like petroleum jelly or Crisco. They had wired her jaw shut so they slipped something in her nose to allow her to breathe.  She screamed anyway.

And the waterboarding was what she woke up to.  Back and forth from burning and cutting, poking and prodding. These were tests on her pain threshold. Tests that mirrored what they had used in 2013 but with more advanced technology. And pain. If that’s even possible.

The only brief period of relief was during her MRI and CT scans. She said nothing to Khan as he administered them.

“Normal.” There was a vast presence of tiredness in his voice that hadn’t been there before.

“Updating me, huh?” She rasped and chuckled lowly as he restrained her to the stretcher he’d brought her in. “Oh, aren’t you a _sweetheart_.”

Then it was back in the room for more tests and more pain. Khan had been ordered by his superior (which was a surprise to her that he had one) to replicate the technology in her.

The thought of another being walking around with a thin metal box hammered into the roof of their mouth started churning the bile in her stomach.  She would never trade places with someone else so she would’ve been spared.

When her head wasn’t restrained, Ophelia’s eyes never left Khan’s face. She studied his augmented features and the look in his eyes changed with each test.

He caught on to what she referred to as her “Little staring contest” and met her gaze until she had to look away.  She swore at one point his mouth formed “sorry” before she could completely look away.

* * *

 

Ophelia’s heart monitor beeped incessantly as Admiral Marcus continued to drench the towel he had placed across her face. She choked. Violently.

_Where’s Khan?_ Ophelia was surprised and perturbed that she was even concerned with the Augment. _That stupid fucking apology must be getting to me. Stockholm syndrome shit._

Marcus drew a phaser across her skin and she shrieked. She couldn’t take it anymore. She had lost track of how long she had been down here. In what Marcus had called in his low occasional mutters Section 31.

“You will listen to me and you will listen well.” Marcus pulled the phaser away from her arm and proceeded to water board Ophelia again. “We have created a new identity for you.” He roughly yanked the towel off her face. She cringed at the harsh glare of the overhead lights and tried to focus on his words but they were garbled and mangled like a ball of chain link fence. “Your name is Ophelia May Harrison.” Ophelia shivered with discontent and disgust  at the name which was luckily perceived as pain by the Admiral, “You have been married to John Harrison for three years.” _A summary of my cover story..?_ “He proposed to you in your home state and married there six months later.” Ophelia bit back her snarky laughter. _How much of this was Khan’s doing?_ “You are happily married and a devoted wife. You love the fact your husband is a Commander with StarFleet. Do you understand?”

Ophelia would have nodded but her neck had been held back for an extended period of time. She was beginning to wonder if she would ever be able to move it again. Marcus fisted his hand in her wet hair and tugged her head towards him. **_“Do you understand?!”_**

“Y..es..” It was choked out. Her throat was sore and raw. She suppressed the reflex to shiver at the memory of a laser vivisection performed before this recent round of waterboarding began.  Khan appeared in her field of vision then. His shirt had been torn and a deep cut was healing on his right cheek.

“Take her back to your apartment.”

Khan glowered at Admiral Marcus’ back until the doors to Section 31 closed behind him. His attention drew back to Ophelia and he untied the metal cords around her wrists. The clock on her arm hadn’t been damaged but he froze at the amount it had reduced.

“Ophelia, you need to calm down.” He whispered as he broke he cords at her feet.

“Why sho..uld I.. fu..cking-”

“Because the amount of time you had left this morning was over forty seven years.”

Ophelia’s body started to shake as she took in the numbers.

_46.03.10.25. 11. 30_

Tears streamed down her face as her body tried to contain her sobs.  Khan’s fingers interlocked with her fingers on her right hand. He pulled Ophelia up out of the chair into his chest and held her up because she could not stand on her own.

_“I.. I..”_ Her arms wrapped around Khan’s midsection. The countdown slowed to its normal rhythm as Khan studied her patiently in his arms. He had fought verbally with Admiral Marcus and it escalated. He touched his right cheek and smiled at the fact that the large cut was already healed. All Marcus was happy about was the fact that he had succeeded in bringing a human through time. But he couldn’t tell her. Not yet.

Khan exhaled and grabbed his black coat from the nervous lab tech at his side. He glared at the young man until he fled to his project. _Weak_.  He held onto Ophelia’s arm to support her as she slipped the coat around her body and pulled it tight. He had chosen no to acknowledge he fact she was naked underneath it aloud. The last thing he needed was for her life span to go down more.

“I will take you back.” His voice was low and unusually soft. “And I will give you some time to yourself.”

Ophelia nodded wordlessly and tightened her grip on Khan’s hand.  They said nothing for the several minutes it took to get to the main elevator. Ophelia only looked up when Khan escorted her out of the main entryway. She looked around with an indifferent mask.

“We’re at the London Archives.”  Khan stated as he opened the door of the taxi he had just hailed. “Yes, this is the same way I brought you in two days ago.”


	5. Chapter 5

_06.00.16.11. 11. 30_

_I’ve been out for two goddamn weeks._

Ophelia remained frozen in bed and, judging by the size, Khan had placed her in the guest room. She huffed heavily and sat up slowly to keep from aggravating her torture wounds.  The Augment’s explanation of future technology choppily came back to her as her head stopped pounding. 

“Lights…” her voice was hoarse from disuse, “Dim.”

Her eyes flicked across the room. The dust was gone and there were new shades draw across the lone window. A small lamp on the dresser fluctuated as she pressed her feet flat on the grey carpet.  The sparsely decorated room unnerved her because she could picture her disheveled sheets and photos in her room.

_I’m never going home._

Ophelia pressed the palm of her right hand to her forehead to calm her mind. This was the _last_ thing she wanted to deal with.  

“Can you stand?”  She would forever deny the little squeak that escaped her lips at that.

“I... I haven’t tried.” She cleared her throat and ran her thin fingers through her hair.

“ _Try_.”

Ophelia growled under her breath as she attempted to stand. Her left hand shot out and pressed firmly onto the wall to keep her upright.  She glanced down and noticed that she was dressed in some of the clothing she’d had in her bag.

“You… you did this.” She had meant it to sound angry but her words fumbled out of her mouth like a child just learning to speak. “After _everything_ you’ve done to me?” She tried not to think of Khan’s hands slipping her shirt over her bare torso or her pants over her…

Khan stepped through the doorframe and approached her. “Come with me.”

* * *

Outside of her room, Ophelia noticed the clock on the stove as Khan pulled another chair up to the center island. It was seven in the morning and Khan looked like he was ready to return to Section 31. It had been almost a year since her last mission, even though she had just recently “quit”, and she usually enjoyed sleeping in. He pushed her glasses case across the island and turned away. When he turned back, he had two small tea cups and a glass kettle placed between them. 

She didn’t notice this or the fact that Khan had started to talk again. She opened the case and found a smaller container with contacts inside.

“…Maple tea?”

She shook her head to regain focus, “Sorry?”

Khan glared at her as he maneuvered the tea cup in the space between her hands. _Don’t make him repeat himself, got it._ “Vermont. I made Maple tea.” He motioned for Ophelia to sit. “I believe Vermont was still known for its maple products in your time.”

Her head bobbed in a nod as her hands instinctually wrapped themselves around the cup, “Yes...” She mumbled through her teeth “Thank you.”

A second’s worth of an eyebrow tick showed that he heard her.  Her teeth worried against her plump lower lip before she took a sip. It soothed her aching throat.

“The contacts will automatically adjust to your eyes.” He spoke before she could put the cup back down, “And birth control is injected now.”

Ophelia watched as he poured her some more tea, “What about the suppressants?”

Khan nodded, “I made you some more,” His eyes scanned the counter until he found a Percocet sized pill bottle beside the knife set. _Psychopath Augment with a knife set, charming._ “This should last you six months.”

Her hand shook as she pulled both containers to her side of the island. “May I ask you something?” She stared at his face for a moment, “How long have you been here?”

His jaw ticked as he calmly returned his tea cup to the counter in between his hands. “Four months.”  He kept his rage surprisingly in check. “I will tell you enough about me to maintain our façade.” Khan waved his hand, “So you don’t get us both killed.”

“You’re an Augment,” Ophelia kept her eyes on the surface of the island, “Admiral Marcus must have something on-”

The remnants of her tea scalded her hand as Khan roughly yanked her arm down behind her back. She scolded herself internally for taking her eyes off of him and could feel the heat of his gaze on the back of her neck. “I knew it.” She almost chortled. “The only thing that Starfleet could ever hold against you is your fucking Augment family.”

The sound that ripped itself from Khan’s chest made her do something she’d only done a few times in her life; she cowered in fear.  His hand traveled up her arm and tightened like a vice around her throat.

He smirked at her as she struggled weakly for air and her already pale skin sunk into a lighter color. 

“Do it Khan.”  She mouthed after a minute of struggling and relaxed into the metal surface as his grip tightened.

But her eyes…. 

Ophelia’s eyes stopped him. The primary directive of her words was to antagonize him into killing her. He let go of her throat and gripped her shoulder instead.

“No matter how much you desire death, Ophelia,” He whispered as his arms blocked her from escaping, “I won’t be the one who gives it to you.” His knee slid between her thighs, “But I will drag out your pain… your _suffering_.” His cheek dragged across hers. “Right now, half of your six pints of blood has been replaced with mine.”

Ophelia gagged and shoved both of her hands against Khan’s chest. She had hoped that wasn’t the reason behind her accelerated healing. Every part of her soul was repulsed by the fact his polluted blood pumped through her veins. 

“It _disgusts_ you Ophelia May that my blood saved your miserable life.” Khan’s fingers tilted her chin so she was forced to look into his eyes. “The very thing you were trained and programmed to hate saved you.”  His thumbs brushed down each side of her throat and met at her vivisection scar. He traced the faint white line across her throat. “Tell me what else you think you know about me.”

* * *

 

 Khan left a half an hour later to finish design plans in Section 31.  He said nothing as Ophelia dragged out her hypothesis on his Augment family.

She sighed heavily as she wrapped her hand in a cold cloth now far less concerned with it because of Khan’s blood. She held her fingers to her mouth every time she thought of it to prevent herself from vomiting.

Television was more disheartening than it was in 2013 and that fact alone had her mind boggled.  She spent several hours with maps on a device Khan had called a PADD. It took some getting used to considering the fact anything designed in the Data program had been neutralized by Khan in Section 31. She growled in frustration and slowly dragged her palm across the back of the machine out of habit. If they hadn’t deactivated it, she could’ve read everything on the device and memorized it.

It had taken her a mere five minutes after Khan closed the door to realize he had removed the small black box from the roof of her mouth. Half of the device was almost a mirror image of the black boxes found in plane wrecks and Khan, if he hadn’t analyzed it already, would know every location she’d been since the device was implanted down to a specific millisecond. He would also know the code correlations and combinations to control every part of her both physically and mentally.

She shivered at the thought and sipped off her fourth cup of tea that morning as she scanned through the material Khan had left about their back story.  She froze when she scanned over relationship status.  Married beamed up at her from the screen. It really shouldn’tve surprised her, Marcus had said it would be part of it.

But it was the one thing that she had been given free rein on. She had no choice on who she trained with, how she was trained, what missions she would go on, or what alterations would be done to her physically and mentally.

She realized she had never been forced to confront her views on the validity and sanctity of marriage until now.  

Ophelia moved through the remaining thirty pages and turned the PADD off.  Could she go through with this charade in public?

She forced herself from the couch and padded back to Khan’s room to use his shower with a slight prayer that he wouldn’t notice.

_I can only imagine what he would do if he found out…_

* * *

Ophelia opted for a shower once she stepped inside the bathroom. Being fully submerged in water was not something she wanted to do in the foreseeable future. She closed her eyes and shook her head as memories of all her cementation and data processes fluttered through her. _All of my friends are dead_.  Ophelia exhaled and slowly opened her eyes. _Stay in the present._

Khan had managed to fit an old claw footed bathtub to the right of the more modern shower system. She slipped out of the clothes Khan had dressed her in and closed the glass door behind her.

“On,” She breathed out as she pressed against the wall, “Warm setting.”

She jumped a little as the water came out at a steady rate and the right temperature.  Her trembling fingers grasped onto a bottle of shampoo away from the others. He had expected her to use his shower again.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Ophelia muttered angrily as she lathered her black hair, “Just had to get everything out of my bag.”   

She hurried her shower along and grabbed the two towels off the towel rack. _Why is everything grey in here?_  

When she was redressed, she replaced the towels and went on a quest to find anything that resembled a washer and dryer.  Between their rooms was a small door that led into a laundry room and housed a brown door from Khan’s room. _Great, of course I couldn’t’ve noticed that earlier._

Quickly becoming frustrated with future technology, Ophelia dropped the towels into a hamper and snatched the PADD from the couch. She would need to find out more about her surroundings sooner or later.  

She slammed her bedroom door shut and dropped the PADD on the small dresser.

_You’re never going home. You’re a prisoner here._ The thought halted any other plans she had. She would never sleep in her own bed or touch any of her other personal belongings again. Khan, Marcus or the both of them would kill her when she would no longer hold any value to them. She knew that time would come soon.  Tears openly flowed as she winced in pain, the warmth and salt burned the surface of her healing wounds.  Ophelia choked as the pain reminded her of Khan’s blood in her. She rolled over and screamed into her cell’s pillow.


End file.
